Online And Mobile Sales Dominated The Biggest Shopping Weekend Of The Year

It’s the end of 2015 and we are just now starting to see big indications of the the power that online and mobile have, in terms of consumer behaviour. Findings from Facebook’s Atlas show us something we are really not that surprised to see. In-store sales are down and online sales – particularly mobile sales – are going up!

In 2016 we expect online and mobile sales to go through roof – and it seems the trend has just started to show itself in earnest. In Atlas’ report, the company showed that during the busiest shopping weekend of the year – Thanksgiving, and the days around it – in-store sales were down 10,4% compared to the same period last year, and online sales went up 15% compared to the same period. Also, 50% or all online sales during this time happened from mobile. On Thanksgiving itself, 58% of online sales came from mobile.

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Online sales on mobile devices on Thanksgiving day, Black Friday, as well as the Saturday and Sunday of the long weekend, all surpassed 50%. On Cyber Monday, this number fell to 39% though. However, those sales were 65% higher than average!

This is of course logical, as people are researching prospective purchases on mobile, and 65% of people shop across channels. So mobiles play a major role in every purchase whether it is completed off-line or online. In this respect, cross device conversions increased 33% in comparison to last year. This year, 19% of conversions were cross device. This shows the huge potential of cross device promotion and tracking in the next year. To tie it all together, Cyber Monday 2015 was the most successful online sales day in history. Boosted by online no doubt!

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So, online sales are on the road to surpassing in-store, and even when there are in-store sales, it is clear that online is what drives buyer behaviour. This is definitely something that marketers need to take advantage in the next few months and within 2016 if they want to be successful. Take a look at the infographic below, for further information.